(My Sportsbook) - The Southeast Division champion Orlando Magic close out an impressive regular season tonight by hosting the Charlotte Bobcats in the season finale for both clubs. The Magic have already locked down the third seed in the Eastern Conference and will be doing a little scoreboard watching tonight to find out who their first round playoff foe will be. The Chicago Bulls need a win tonight against Toronto or a Philadelphia loss in Cleveland to earn the sixth seed in the East and a date with Orlando in the first round. In the unlikely event Chicago loses tonight and the reeling 76ers win, the Bulls will drop to seventh and the Sixers would draw the Magic in the opening round. Orlando comes in on a bit of a down note and will likely continue to rest some key starters tonight. The Magic dropped their third in a row in Milwaukee on Monday when Richard Jefferson poured in a game-high 24 points and dished out seven assists, as the Bucks claimed victory in their final home game of the season with a 98-80 win over Orlando. Courtney Lee finished with 17 points for the Magic, who lost their third straight for the first time all season. Tony Battie finished with 13 points and six boards. Rafer Alston tallied 11 points in defeat. Orlando was without the services of forwards Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis along with star center Dwight Howard in Milwaukee. Turkoglu sprained his left ankle during Orlando's 103-93 setback at New Jersey on Saturday while Lewis is nursing right knee tendinitis. Howard, meanwhile, was given the night off. All three players are expected to remain on the sidelines tonight. The Magic last dropped four in a row from February 20-25, 2007. The Bobcats come in after a loss to New Jersey on Monday when Jarvis Hayes hit a pair of three-pointers in the final two minutes to give the Nets a 91-87 win over Charlotte. Raymond Felton had 19 points and five assists, and Boris Diaw had 13 points and five rebounds for the Bobcats, who have dropped six of seven. The Magic have won six of the last seven matchups with the Bobcats and will be shooting for a four-game season series sweep tonight. |
